When I Was Young

BUDGET TAI-TAI

Namely, the Singaporean love affair with food

Tabitha Wang, voices@mediacorp.com.sg

05:55 AM Jun 19, 2009

I WAS back in Singapore recently. It was my husband's last work trip before he lost his job and seeing as it was home, how could I not tag along?

Besides, since my last column was published, I had received so many encouraging notes from Today's readers that I suddenly felt a need to go home and lick my wounds among my people.

But I must say my two-day trip was a surreal experience.

Many things were achingly familiar, from the huge trees along the East Coast Parkway to the surly taxi drivers who refused to get out and help us with our bags. And yet, a lot had changed.

I got lost walking down Orchard Road because I didn't know you now exited the MRT station via Ion Orchard and not Wisma Atria. On my way back to my hotel in Orchard Road from Suntec City, I nearly died lugging my box of Milo three-in-ones across the road in a downpour because I didn't know that buses were now stopping on Orchard Boulevard, not Orchard Turn.

Train doors closed in my face as I stood on the platform bemused, wondering if going to Joo Koon meant I was heading west or east. Portsdown Road was nothing more than a huge expressway now, its charming black-and-whites and twisty lanes asphalted over.

Everywhere I went, I was whipping my head round and muttering: "Argh, they got rid of that building" or "Oooh, so that's the KPE" so fast I'm amazed I didn't get whiplash. It reminded me of the time I met this bewildered tourist at the void deck of my HDB block. The poor guy was staring at the public phone in despair.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"This phone card. I bought it when I was here two years ago and now it doesn't work."

I looked at the card. "It's the wrong kind. This is the old magnetic card, you've got to buy another one with a chip in it."

He shook his head. "Singapore changes so fast I can't keep up with it."

Walking down Orchard Road, I knew how he felt. Only a few months and the stores had changed, roads had been realigned and bus stops removed.

Singapore has changed and I haven't been around to see it.

Every time I thought about it, it made me sad. So I did the one thing that was sure to cheer me up: I went on a tour of duty round my favourite hawker stalls.

Amazingly, they were all there.

Putri Hayyu in Waterloo Street, which serves the best sambal ikan bilis with petai in the country, was still going strong. I ordered two helpings of sambal and then went back for a third.

The woman at the stall was amazed. "Didn't I give you enough?"

"No," I replied. "I aim to make up for a year's worth of petai deprivation." At the end of the meal, I was so full I couldn't even get up from the table.

At Far East Plaza, I slipped into the famous chicken rice shop on my first night. It was 7.30pm. The guy took my order - chicken rice with extra liver - and then said: "That's last order. The chicken is sold out."

At Maxwell Market, I gorged on what used to be a lunch staple: Scissors-cut rice. The breaded pork chop melded with the creamy curry sauce. Heaven. I stuffed my mouth until my eyes nearly popped out.

Seeing as I was only back for two days, I couldn't go to all my usual haunts. But I made sure to check with my friends that they were all still there.

"I'm amazed," I said. "So many things have changed but the food places still remain exactly where they are."

"That's because we Singaporeans get our identity from food, not buildings," my friend replied. "You can raze our monuments, cut down our trees and we won't say a thing, but move our favourite loh mee place three stalls away from its usual location and we will turn it into a national issue and make TV shows about it."

I looked up from my char kway teow. "You're so right. I'll eat to that."

Tabitha Wang forgot to check if the Hoe Nam prawn mee shop is still around now that Jackson Centre is to be demolished. Does anyone know?

From TODAY, Comment – Friday, 19-Jun-2009